Liquor license bidding less spirited

In 2004, LongHorn Steakhouse and Applebee’s Restaurant paid $250,000 and $275,000 apiece for their liquor licenses, the equivalent of Boston-area prices at the time.

Susan Parkou Weinstein

In 2004, LongHorn Steakhouse and Applebee’s Restaurant paid $250,000 and $275,000 apiece for their liquor licenses, the equivalent of Boston-area prices at the time.

When the state increased the number of package store licenses for each town, three businesses vied for the new local permit.

Times have changed.

The state cap on alcohol licenses once created a big demand for the asset, increasing its open market value.

“The economy has decreased that demand,” Dennis Kirwin of the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, said.

Attorney Louis A. Cassis agrees.

His client, Karen Thomas of Joe T’s Pub on South Street East, has been searching for a buyer of the business and the license since she closed in May.

Restaurants are feeling the pinch of consumer belt-tightening, Cassis said

Thomas now has an agreement with a restaurant chain to buy just the liquor license but Cassis hinted the price is not what it used to be.

“Things were very different a few years ago,” he said.

Rum Runners Wine & Spirits in Market Basket Plaza has been on the market for a year and is now closed.

Owner Peter DeTrolio Jr. said a few prospective buyers had dropped out. One remains and has left a deposit.

Selectmen called both establishments in this week to address concerns that their licenses had been lying dormant for extended periods of time.

They said there was no set time for an inactive license to be pulled under state or local law.

But, “one year is fair,” Selectman Donald McKinnon said.

Joe T’s Pub’s license should be sold and transferred to another location within six months, Cassis said.

As the local licensing authority, selectmen approve all license transfers.

In the past, the board was reluctant to move a license off-site, fearing it could devalue a commercial property.

In the mid-1990s, however, Bickford’s sold its liquor permit off-site to Chili’s.

Later, the StoneForge Tavern and Publick House on Paramount Drive bought a license from Rendezvous Cafe on Route 44 that was going out of business. In 2004, LongHorn purchased its license from the owner of the Raynham Par 3 Golf Course and Applebee’s bought its permit from La Garlic Restorante on Route 44 before it shut its doors.

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